What is The Barbary Next Door? It’s a restaurant from the team behind The Barbary. And where is it? It’s next door to The Barbary.
Frankly, the name is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here.
So, in the hopes of giving it a break, here’s the long & short of it all: The Barbary is the wonderful North African restaurant nestled in the colourful courtyard at Neal’s Yard. It’s from the eminently talented people behind The Palomar, and it’s become so popular that they’ve decided to let it spill over into the adjacent building, converting the cosy little space that used to house their coffee shop side-hustle (Jacob The Angel) into a kind of mini Barbary.
And now it’s open.
They must be beside themselves.
Like its big sister, The Barbary Next Door is all counter seating. Here, it faces the open kitchen, and snakes around to hug the blushed pink wall behind. It’s understandably extremely intimate, with only space for just over a dozen or so diners all told.
And as for what they’re making? Well, after tossing back a harissa-kissed oyster, or a cumin-salted quail egg, you can tear into the excellent flatbreads that The Barbary has become famous for, along with their delightful accompanying dips (machluta, tirshi, zaalouk, etc.). Then, the larger dishes will net you anything from crispy chicken pastilla filo pie with chilli cherry jam, to a hearty oxtail tagine, a fragrant stuffed seabass chermoula, or a rich butter bean & smoked paprika stew.
The drinks part of this whole operation is where things diverge a little from the mothership, by leaning much more steeply into their wine offering. They’ve hired sommelier-extraordinaire Honey Spencer (she’s worked with Sager + Wilde, The Mulwray, etc.) who’s curated a list of Old World organics, plus a couple of Moroccan numbers to act as menu-matchers, and standalone wine-bar fodder. There’s pre-dinner wine, post-dinner wine, orange wine, you name it. And if you’re feeling frisky, you can score a prosecco-loaded Cocchi sbagliato, too.
As for Jacob The Angel? It’ll be migrating to an as-yet-unnamed location.
Despite the name, it’s not going to heaven quite yet.
NOTE: The Barbary Next Door is open Mon-Sat, for breakfast pastries, coffee & sandwiches 10.30am-2.30pm, then dinner 5-11pm. They keep back space for walk-ins, but you can also book dinner for 1-4 people a month in advance. You can find out more right HERE.
The Barbary Next Door | 16A Neal’s Yard, WC2H 9DP
Next door to The Barbary Next Door? There happens to be a remarkably good porridge restaurant.